DUST AUG 13th

DUST is the third book in the EMBER series. And it is coming out really soon! I know. That was really fast after Obsidian. I had a lot of help with this book, in inspiration from God (actually, He wrote it; I just typed). For this reason, it has been my favorite book writing experience, and I hope everyone else enjoys it too.

Here are some of the main theme songs God showed me for the book. They fit very precisely!

Love is the Strongest Flame. Man, this song is awesome. You've got to listen to it. We know that God is love. This song depicts exactly the sort of representation that magic is supposed to give in the Ember Series; it's also jut a great song with lots of passion. Listen!

Another great song about love. This will be inspiration for a particular scene. You might guess it after reading. But don't wait to listen to it. Listen now! You will be blessed.

This song is SO ____'s theme song for this book. Haha, sorry. I can't tell you who, it will give too much away, but man... it's such a great, real song straight from God's heart. Listen to it, to prep you for DUST!


COVER TIME!!!

What do you think? It is all glowy! I like this one.

Niftilly (yes, that's a word. means nifty). Ah-hem. Niftilly: the epilogue of the second book, is the prologue of the third book, DUST. Sort of.
Here it is:
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    Prologue:

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

He asked me again. I felt scraping dirt in my throat.

He asked: “Who are you?”

“I don’t know!” I shouted out. I hadn’t known or thought I possessed such a strong voice. But I shouted, as my body came up tall. Strong. I was strong. I shouted strong. That was who I was. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” I kept telling him.

Till I saw a flash of fear in his eyes, at my response.

And I thought: he fears me. This is what I need. Strength. I’ll just--

But then he brought the flat-side of his weapon to the back of my head.

And all I could remember before my world went black was that I knew it was called a sword. I only didn’t know how.

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Actually, that's just a PART to the prologue, but I don't want to give away too much.

Here is the playlist on youtube: DUST PLAYLIST


It is REALLY long (125 songs), but these are literally all the songs I listened to to inspire me for DUST. God was really generous, I guess. Lol. :)

And that's about it. Dust is really good, so read it. You will love it. It will make you happy.

I hope that you have a blessed week/month/day, and if you haven't read it yet, please check out my last post on Grace and Worry.

Hurray for DUST!!! AUGUST 13TH!!!

Worry to Grace

This is probably the most important post I've ever written.

If you've got a problem with worry, as many people do, then this post is really important for you to read. 

I recently had a tragedy strike my family. I won't go into it in detail, but the point of it is that God revealed to me some very important truths after the trial, and pretty much all throughout it.

I've struggled with worry, pretty much all of my life, though I am a christian, and that shouldn't be our part of our MO.

But it was. And especially during this trial, it hit me.

But God gave me an answer!
This is the good part.

I wrote a book about it (really He wrote it, I just tried to type fast enough:)).

I want to share it with everyone for free, because if worry is part to your life, this is super-going to free you.

So without further ado, here is the link to the full Worry to Grace devotional...

Worry to Grace

This is a PDF, so anyone should be able to read it simply from their computer or phone.

Guys, I can't stress enough how much this will really help you if you struggle with worry.

If you'd like to buy the paperback format (I can't make that one free, because they charge to make it! lol), then you can buy it here on lulu: Worry to Grace Paperback on Lulu Publishing

And then, here's a few songs that really fit the heart behind the book:

 

I'm trying to get this book out there fast, so if anyone happens to notice a typo in the file, please let me know here in a comment. That will help a lot! 

Thanks, and God be with you in all that you do! 

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**side node: DUST (the third book of the EMBER series) is coming out next month! Yay! More on this next time. 

Dust and Ember $2.99

So, wow. In the last post I told everyone how I hadn't started a word of the third book in the EMBER series, (tentatively named "Dust"). But now a week or two later, I'm pleased to let you all know I'm 30,000 words in! It's very exciting; the story is just taking off! Thank you all for support and prayers. I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter.

For anyone interested to know a little about Dust, here is the setting...

EMBER UNDERWATER!

....

....

...

Lol. Not really, I'm just kidding! April Fools!

Heh, heh, heh.

But the picture IS nice right? It's drawn by fallencrypt on deviantart. Check him out.

This is really the place (as any of you who have read Obsidian might have guessed):

 

But maybe looking a little bit more like this:

If you catch my drift.

I should probably warn anyone uber-interested in ancient history, that this book won't focus on names and dates, so much as feel and environment. I did get a chance to go to "this place" when I was younger, so I hope that the story is true to the country.


And lets see. On top of that, has anyone ever read The Mark of the Lion Trilogy?
It is written by Francine Rivers, she was a well-known romance author at the time she began the story. She wrote it because she had recently become a Christian, and she wanted to share her faith with others. So she told a story about it. Anyways, it's VERY good, and REALLY romantic. I read it when I was 15 and it had a big impact on my life. If you like ancient history, or pretty much if you like just plain reading. Check it out. The set has just gotten new covers:



Finally, I thought for music-lovers, everyone might enjoy the playlist I'm listening to while writing Dust. It's not THE playlist, final, or anything; it's just the songs inspiring me right now while I write.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH686HQQmBR5K53kIiD5mDxDfQ7lbWZ1X

I hope that you all have a blessed day, whenever it is that you read this.

One final, I guess sort of important, but less exciting note is that EMBER is going to be going up in price. From its current 99 cents to $2.99 like OBSIDIAN. The main reason for this is written about in a prior post. With e-books, 99 cents equals 33 cents. and 2.99 equals 2 bucks, so it's a really big percentage change. I hope you can all still enjoy Ember. It's like 600 pages, so you're still getting a lot of bang for your dollar. If there is a big drop in buyers, I will probably set it back to 99 cents, though. Because I would rather more people got a chance to read it. And please, always let me know if you can't afford the price, and I'll look into getting you a free copy.

EMBER will be available at 99 cents, for the NEXT THREE DAYS, so get it while cheap-er if you're reading this!

Peace be with everyone as we enter into spring, and just remember this is how HE feels about you:

My Little Obsidian

So lately, my niece is very fond of My Little Pony. Anyone else a fan? I guess adults are called bronies or something. I don't understand why. But the release of Obsidian since February has been a Great Success! We have sold over 1,ooo copies already. Ember is selling over 2,000 each month. I am so happy and grateful for the all the feedback! I wish I could ask everyone personally who their favorite character is. That is my favorite question to ask.
I wish I could post each review, and thank every person that has commented, because I am so grateful to them. (even the bad ones!)
But that would fill this blog post very long, and everyone can go to amazon and goodreads to read those.
I thought, to celebrate Obsidian's success, in honor of my niece, I will show you all my sister's (aka, my agent, website runner, and editor specialist) my sister's self-made EMBER Series My Little Ponies.

So without further ado...

My little Obsidian:



You can probably guess, this is Evelyn. Isn't she pretty? I love the forest in the back. I want to live there.



Dum-dum-da-dah! Ikovos! He is so cute as a pony. Don't worry if you think he looks too clean-cut. All he needs to do is shake off those glasses and get his hair a little wet and he'll be a model of pearl and silver excitement!

 Now comes the funny part...

This is Jaden.

And this is what Jaden THINKS he looks like... 

Yup, that's our Jaden. I think particularly with all the success of Obsidian, all your wonderful feedback and support, he is feeling especially awesome. I'd say he considers Ember's success 90% percent the cause of his great hair, but that's for another story... 

I'll try to write a new post soon about what's coming in the future. Of course the Fallen Trilogy has the last to come out. And it is all finished! And it is amazing, if I do say so myself. The characters really pulled through in the last book. I love them. Fallen Warrior will be out soon I hope. 

As for those of you wondering about the THIRD TO THE EMBER SERIES, I have to tell you honestly that I haven't penned a single word. But I do know the story! It's going to be great (and a LOT happier than Obsidian, for those of you that have read it). It'll be full of magic, and light. It is tentatively called, "Dust" and likely that is what I'll refer to it as in future posts. 

I hope you all are having a good new year. Grace to you in 2013. You will be in my prayers. And I'd be remiss not to say that I hope you all think of Jesus this year, if you haven't before, and find a church to visit and celebrate His love for you. There isn't anything good that comes to you that isn't from Him. If you love stories, especially love stories, as I do, then I hope you will always remember that they are telling the secret of His love for you. Jaden, Evelyn, and Ikovos, all learned love from the one who loves us the most. So praise Him this Easter, because He is alive, and He loves you. 

Thank you everyone again. Happy Easter!

Obsidian... and Mummies... and Gypsies

If you've been to the "coming soon" page you know that Obsidian is almost finished up, entering into the editing process and will be out for sale 12.18.12; this year! So... I thought I'd post some sneak peaks for it. NOT actual chapters or anything; too soon for that. :) But playlist, pics, a few videos. Me and my sister have an argument going on about what Jaden looks like (he's the male lead for Ember/Obsidian in case you didn't know), so if you've read the books, have a look, and let me know which team you're on. He always comes in the form of a youtube vid, yay for music! So without further ado...

The PLAYLIST...

Who Knew - Pink
Bright Lights - Matchbox Twenty
Come In Closer - Blue October
Look After You - The Fray
Miserable At Best - Mayday Parade
Heartless - The Fray
Please Don't Leave Me - Pink
Evelyn - Hurts
Already In - Jon McLaughlin


Most of the first book's playlist songs belong to Evelyn (i.e., they're from her point of view), so I decided this "sneak-peak " playlist for Obsidian, would be a few of Jaden's songs. "Who Knew" starts from the end of Ember (book 1) to the start of Obsidian. It's sort of a "between the books" song. "Come in Closer" by Blue October, encompasses a lot of the feel of Obsidian.  "Please Don't Leave Me" by Pink & "Heartless" by The Fray (yes, it's a Kanye West cover, if you were wondering) are both the main songs for Jaden in Obsidian. Where I'd say he's most "at" if that makes sense. Yeah, doesn't sound good, does it? He'll be okay.

As far as the "Evelyn" song by Hurts. I'm not usually into the name, actual-name, song thing. But this one just fits so perfect. Here, listen:

And so...

On to the Jaden's appearance issue.

This is what my sister believes he looks like:

Yes, the main boy of course. No doubt you've seen this video? I told her that maybe if I were drawing Jaden or something I could possibly use him as a model (not really), but to me, he doesn't have enough... er... depth or something. I don't know. Jaden-ness.

On that note, here are my picks:

A mix between that, and...

...that. She's even less crazy about the second, than the first. And no, Jaden would probably never be caught dead in that hat that Enrique is wearing, and yet: it's something about his movements -- and Jon McLaughlin's (who's an awesome artist by the way--listen to all his songs!). They're deliberate movements; passionate, but controlled. That's all Jaden to me. It's more about what's going on inside them then their looks. Though the looks fit too! Especially if you could mix them together.

I picture Jaden darker skinned, and somewhat foreign. My sister suggested "gypsy" and I'd say that's the right term. Gypsy is actual just another name for Romani people who live in parts of Europe, and they're actually traceable back to India, or close to it, in southern Asia. Insteresting hunh? yeah, I just found that out. Of course most people know about Gypsies for themselves. Think of Jaden like that!

And if you've read Ember, please leave a comment mentioning which one you'd say fits best! Or do you have your own suggestions? Sadly, I still haven't found an Evelyn.

Here's the closest:



Haha. Yeah, sure, it's Evelyn from "The Mummy". Now you're really not going to believe me that I don't have a name thing. Still...

And that's about it. I'ma get back to work editing, so you can look forward to reading. Thanks for stopping by!

P.S.

I wonder...

Does that mean...

Jaden????

Er...

No. :)

Though he is cute!

Go watch The Mummy!

Every day.